Test standards for antimicrobials

Products that have received LIFE’s antimicrobial treatment can be tested for efficacy against bacteria, fungi and algae.

The two most well-established methods are zone of inhibition testing and percent bacterial reduction testing :

Zone of inhibition

The test sample is placed in Petri dishes where a specific micro-organism is cultivated with the right nutrients, temperature, and humidity. After some time, the high number of micro-organisms forms a visible “lawn” of organisms. If the sample being tested exhibits strong efficacy against the test organism, a zone of inhibition appears around the sample, and the average radius of this zone is reported in millimeters. If the sample fails to display a zone of inhibition, the laboratory checks for inhibition under the sample, which indicates weaker efficacy. If there is no such inhibition under the sample, the sample has no antimicrobial treatment effect.

Below are the Petri dishes samples that demonstrate the LIFE> antimicrobial treatment efficacy against bacteria, fungi, and algae.

Sample with LIFE

Sample with out LIFE

Bacteria

Sample with LIFE

Sample with out LIFE

fungi

Sample with LIFE

Sample with out LIFE

Algae

Percent bacterial reduction testing

A known number of bacteria are placed on product samples with and without LIFE’s antibacterial treatment and inoculated at 37°C for a period of 24 hours. After this time, the number of bacteria on the treated surface is identified and compared with the number of bacteria in the untreated sample. Normally a reduction in bacteria of 99% or more can be observed on the LIFE treated product compared with the control sample. (This test can only be performed for bacteria; and is not appropriate for antifungal or antialgal testing.)